Cyber Security breakfasts to help businesses deal with security threats

Cyber security is to come under the spotlight as police demonstrate a live hack to encourage businesses to protect themselves.

The safety of the online world is a hot topic with threats from hackers, criminals, activists, terrorists and even disgruntled employees who target vulnerable firms.

Now the North East Cyber Crime Unit (NERSOU) has teamed up with local police forces to host ‘cyber breakfasts’ in a bid to urge businesses to protect themselves against the growing menace of cyber-crime.

Detective Sergeant Martin Wilson from NERSOU, said: “North East businesses are underprepared when it comes to cyber threats, with many having no contingency plans in place for a crisis.

“Whilst it is easy enough to recognise an insecure window or an unlocked door, it is not always as easy to spot that your computer system has been compromised.

“The purpose of these breakfasts is simple, we want to show businesses how they can be vulnerable to a cyber-attack by demonstrating a live hack with the help of Waterstons, an IT consultancy based in Durham.

"This may all sound like doom and gloom but it is not, we can give you the support to defend against these hacks and are offering a free vulnerability assessment service, which can give you an overview of your ICT weaknesses so you can fix them before cyber criminals find them.”

The free events will take place across the region in Durham City, Darlington and Barnard Castle and it will be a chance for businesses to speak to experts in cyber-crime and enable organisations in the North East to come together to share their experiences and learn from best practice.

“Cyber-crime has been on people’s radars for a while now but it is still an evolving global threat and attacks are incredibly disruptive. It is a growing part of the workload of policing in UK,” said DS Wilson whose team has recently expanded to deal with these type of crimes.

“We are a dedicated team of detectives here to protect businesses and members of the public,” he added.